The U.S. Department of Labor’s (USDOL) Deputy Under Secretary (DUS) for International Affairs Thomas Moorhead and Indian Secretary of Labor Vinod Vaish announced the second year of funding for U.S. technical assistance to India on mine safety and health. The USDOL-funded assistance project is designed to reduce deaths and injuries among Indian coal miners through training for miners, managers and unions. U.S. experts will share best practices learned in our country and assist the Indian Directorate General of Mine Safety (DGMS) to develop a database for mine inspectors. The inspectors, equipped with laptop computers linked to the DGMS database, will collect and analyze data on site and disseminate solutions immediately. Under the old system, the paperwork backlog delayed the transfer of data by some two to three weeks. The new computer-based system will allow inspectors to increase the overall number of inspections.

While in India, DUS Moorhead also visited a mine and spoke to parents at a National Child Laborers’ Project school where their children are withdrawn from hazardous jobs and rehabilitated through education, nutrition and vocational training.

USDOL, through its Bureau of International Labor Affairs, manages four different technical assistance projects in India. Following is a brief summary of these projects.

CHILD LABOR: USDOL, with joint U.S. and Indian funding, has developed and is administering a multi-faceted program to combat exploitative child labor. The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor is carrying out the work. The project covers removing children from abusive and dangerous work, providing them education and training, offering their families income-generating alternatives to child labor, monitoring child labor laws and conducting awareness raising and adult education on child labor.

COAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH: This USDOL technical assistance project is a tripartite operation designed to reduce coal mining injuries and fatalities through improved and increased inspections. It involves representatives of labor, mine operators and the Indian government.

HIV/AIDS PREVENTION IN THE WORK PLACE: This project provides education and training on HIV/AIDS prevention. It is focused on the work place because that is one place which is a common and regular meeting place for people. The project includes collection and analysis of information on best practices of prevention and care, development of an on-line data base, assistance to the government of India on policy development and on-site training for workers at select work places. The USDOL has employed the services of the ILO for the actual work on site.

DECENT EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN: This USDOL project focuses on improving job skills of urban women working in the informal sector. The goal is to train 2,000 women and to place at least 1,500 in decent jobs in the formal economic sector. The ILO is the direct service provider.